Wishes
by LadyHarpy
Summary: Two insane girls inadvertantly wish themselves into the Phantom's world. Yeah, this is going to be nuts.
1. The Beginning to the Craziness

It was a quite day in Paris. Summer had fallen over the beautiful city, making it sparkle with an almost hypnotizing light. Everyone was in a wonderful mood, from the teenagers walking the streets shopping to the tourists exploring the city, but there was no one in that city that could ever be as happy as two certain girls.

"Oh My God, Hadley, look! We're finally here!" Squealed the ever-pleasant Jane as she skipped up the steps to the Opera Garnier.

"Not so fast Jane, you need the ticket to get in!" her partner in crime Hadley said as she ran to catch up with her friend. The girls, if you're wondering, had been lucky enough to win an all-expenses paid trip to France for winning first place in the 'Young Writers of America' contest. Their story had taken the judges by surprise with its randomness and all-around good humor. Of course their parents made them wait to take the trip till summer for educational reasons, but the two were happy that their parents were nice enough (or dumb enough) to let them go alone. The evil duo made it to the large doors of the Opera House in record time, meeting up with the other people taking the tour. Though the girls had everything paid for, from meals to attractions, they didn't get the VIP treatment they had hoped for. Nonetheless, the girl were thrilled to hear that they would get to see the Opera Garnier were the Phantom had wreaked havoc. The tour guide showed up a moment later to take them all inside.

"Before we start I'll need to see everyone's ticket before we go in so have them out and I'll check as you go in the door." Jane instantly shot to the front of the line with Hadley close behind. The girls entered the door showing the tour guide their tickets. They stared in awe at the beautiful 19th century design that the entrance hall had, Hadley clicking away with her camera and Jane dancing around like a giddy moron. As soon as everyone had their tickets checked the tour began. First a long and anything but interesting monolog of the Opera Houses history was told leaving many, including the two spastic teenagers, in a coma-like state. However, much to their luck the boring lecture was ended and they were led into the main theater where they were allowed to take pictures and look around. Hadley and Jane made a mad dash to the stage before anyone else could; where they proceeded to take millions of pictures and act like complete retards (we apologize to Jane's father for the politically incorrect statement.)

"Now if everyone would follow me we'll head to the dressing rooms." The tour group slowly started to leave the theater, leaving Jane and Hadley to continue to frolic in their own little world. Jane eventually calmed down and took in the wondrous beauty that was the stage and theater.

"Hadley," Jane spoke "do you think that if we wished hard enough we could go back in time and meet the Phantom?" Hadley stopped taking pictures for a moment and thought.

"No not really, I mean we have to be realistic at least some of the time Jane."

"Could we at least try?" Jane begged as she pouted and let loose the puppy dog eyes of doom. Hadley sighed and put her camera away and walked over to Jane.

"Fine but don't go emo on me when it doesn't work." Jane giggled happily and grabbed Hadley's hand and they both closed their eyes.

"I wish I could go back in time and meet Erik, The Phantom of the Opera." A moment of silence came over the two and after awhile Hadley opened her eyes.

"Jane," Hadley piped up.

"Yes?"

"We're still in the theater."

"Oh, well darn." Jane let go of Hadley's hand. "Damn you reality and your ways of making me angry!" Hadley sighed and started to pull Jane along.

"Come on, we should catch up with the group." Jane nodded her head and started to follow when a strange and alluring sound drifted to her ears.

"Hadley, do you hear that?" Hadley stopped and started to listen as well.

"Yeah, I do. It sounds like…an organ?" The music started to become louder and louder and more dramatic with each note until it made the very air in the room vibrate. Suddenly a strange feeling came over them, just as if the very music in the air hand grabbed their hearts and was controlling the beats. Their bodies stiffened and their sight became blurry, leaving them confused and slightly disoriented. Jane tried to call out for help but was shocked to find her voice was gone and made a mad attempt to get close to Hadley, who was in no better a condition than her. Suddenly a gust of wind stared to pull them into the air, giving them the felling of levitation. Bright light flashed, making it even harder for the girls to see, leaving them in even more of a daze than they originally were. Streams of colorful light spun around them changing their appearance ever so slowly, changing their jeans and t-shirts into semi-casual dresses that had an elegant appeal to them. Then out of nowhere everything just stopped and the girls started to fall…

In to the Lake…

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Earlier in the Phantoms Labyrinth…

Erik had been playing his organ and composing more music for his operas when a strange wind-like sound came to his ears. Turning around to see what had interrupted his work he came face to face with an extremely bright light. As soon as the light disappeared there was a very loud splash. Quickly, he made his way over to the lake where two figures slowly floated to the surface. The first one to arrive to the top took in a long and shaky breath before looking around as if trying to find something.

"Jane, where are you?" The first figure franticly swam over to where the other must have fallen and swam under the water. After a few minutes the figure, which he had determined was a woman, came back up with another by her side. The other took in a deep breath and started on her way over to the bottom of the stairs where they met the water. Erik slowly descended the stairs towards the two creatures that suddenly appeared in his home out of thin air. The first figure pulled herself out of the water, as did the other one. Both were soaked to the bone and shivering horribly. Erik dared to get closer to the two and kneeled down in front of one of them. Of corse, this didn't go unnoticed by the young woman in front of him and she looked up at him. Her eyes widened and it looked as if she stopped breathing. The girl's mouth hung open as she tried to form coherent words.

"H-H-H-H-Had-Hadley, look!" The other girl not to far over looked up and a similar look of shock came upon her face as she muttered to herself.

"It worked, I can't believe it. It actually worked." Erik had decided that now would be a good time to ask if they were ok. Oh, how wrong he was.

"Are you ok?" he spoke in his deep baritone voice, causing the girl he was kneeling in front of to shiver. Whether it was from how cold she was or the effect his voice had on her he would never know. The girl smiled wildly as she launched herself at him knocking him onto his butt.

"Oh thank you reality for making an exception! Thank you!" The girl crowed to nothing as she hugged him tightly, forcing his face into her neck. While the girl holding him continued to rant to thin air about her gratitude he couldn't help but notice the strange and interesting smell of her neck.

"Smells like chocolate and butter." He thought as the aroma filled his nose, but eventually logical thought set in and he realized what he was doing. Quickly he pulled away and stood up, an extremely light blush on his cheeks.

"What in Heaven's name do you think you're doing!?" The girl that was hugging him was pouting unhappily while the other one stood there snickering to herself.

"Sorry about that, it's a long story." The young girl spoke. "She really can't help herself." Erik looked over at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really? Well, is the story so long that I can't even know who fell from the sky and into my lake?" The girls just stood there looking at each other.

"Well, erm, to be perfectly honest Mr. Phantom," the older of the two girls said, "we're not entirely sure ourselves."

"Yeah," piped up the hug-happy girl. "We just sort of wished that we could be here and then all of a sudden things started spinning and…"

The two girls stopped and looked at each other. Some form of revelation as to their sudden appearance began to dawn on their faces. Erik, on the other hand, was just plain confused.

"Aw crap," the younger one said. "Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap."

"Crap what?" Erik asked. "What the hell happened?"

"Well we're not sure of the logistics of the whole thing, but we think that we made a wish to be back here in this time, and then it just happened."

There was a slightly awkward moment of silence.

"You just wished for it and it happened?" Erik asked.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Well, that's a little…um…okay I'm sorry but that just goes against all laws of logic and reality."

"Excuse me," the hugging girl said, "but did you not hear my whole bit about reality and its occasional exception-making?"

"No," Erik said, "I was too busy being attacked and having my lungs crushed." 'And smelling your neck,' he thought to himself, but decided it was best to leave that bit out of the conversation.

"So now that we're here," the older girl said, "can we stay with you?"

"Of course," Erik said amiably.

"Really?"

"No."

"But why not?" the girls asked. "We won't be any trouble!"

"Your being here is trouble enough," he snapped. "I am in the middle of something very important, so if you don't mind I'd appreciate it if you'd just fly on back to where ever it is you came from."

Erik turned and walked back to his organ. The younger girl spoke up.

"Well then I guess we'll just have to go find the police," she said. "After all, I'm sure that they'd be more than happy to help us after we tell them where to find the Phantom of the Opera."

Erik stopped mid-stride and turned around to face the girls with fire in his eyes.

"Is that a threat?" he asked menacingly.

"Well it's not a singing telegram," the older girl said.

"Okay, who are you anyway?" Erik asked. He was just the slightest bit curious.

"I'm Jane," the younger of the two girls said, "and this is Hadley."

Erik stared at Jane and Hadley. They were soaking wet and dressed in elegant apparel. The youngest (Jane, he reminded himself) wore a blue dress with a squared collar which elongated her neck almost gracefully. The sleeves of the dress were cut off at the elbow and were lined with black lace, as was the front and back. The skirt flowed down to just around her ankles, showing off a pair of simple black boots. The eldest, Hadley, wore a dark emerald green dress with long sleeves and a curved neckline. It was also decorated in black lace, but the torso was covered in a darker green vest. The dress, like the one worn by Jane, went down to the ankles and was just short enough to show another pair of black lady's boots. All in all, they didn't look too bad, minus the wetness, of course.

Erik sighed. He was caught. If he turned them out then they would go to the police. But if he kept them, he was positive he would loose his sanity before the week was out. Then again, everyone thought he was insane anyway, so perhaps it wouldn't be that much of a difference. Just a little more killing.

"Alright," he said with a resolute sigh.

"You mean we can stay?" Jane asked, looking thoroughly pleased.

"Yes, you can stay," he answered. "But only until you have found a way to get back to where you came from. And if you do anything that even remotely bothers me, I will murder you in your sleep."

"Sounds fair to me," Hadley said. Jane nodded in agreement. Erik turned away and headed up the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Jane asked as she took a few steps to follow him.

"To bed," he answered. "Just don't touch anything and you won't wake up to death." Jane stopped following him up the stairs and he disappeared into his room. The two confused girl looked around and decided that maybe they should go to bed to, that way they could confirm if this was a dream or not.


	2. The Agreement

The next day Erik awoke to the sound of arguing. Slowly he stood up and put on his mask and wig and walked out of his room. What he saw, however, caught him off guard. The eldest of the two girls was standing behind the other while the younger was complaining about how the older had no idea how to tie a corset.

"My god Hadley, are you trying to crush my lungs? You're tying it way too tight!" Jane complained as she took in a breath with some difficulty.

"Well, I've never tied one of these before, give me a break!" Hadley said as she started to undo the string again. Erik stood there in a dazed state while he watched the girls. There was nothing different about them; Jane still had the short dirty blond hair and brown eyes just as Hadley still had the long blond hair and blue eyes. What made him act the way he was acting was the fact that they were anything but decent. Jane sighed in relief as the corset on her undergarments was loosened.

"Well hurry up and get this thing tied correctly or else I might have to wake up Erik and get him to do it." Jane turned back to looking at the stairs when her eyes locked on the overcome Phantom. Jane smiled and waved at him.

"Good morning Erik, do you know how to tie a corset?" Erik blinked a few time before rubbing his eyes and staring at Jane confused.

"What?"

"I said Good morning Erik, do you know-" She started but she was cut off.

"I know what you said!" Erik snapped and he walked down the stairs and over to the girls. "Why do you ask if I know how to tie a corset?"

"Well, sleeping in a tied corset isn't like sleeping in a king-sized feathered bed," Jane said matter-of-factly, "and the moron behind me can't tie it if her life depended on it."

"Hey, I resent that."

"So you want _me_ to do it?" Erik asked, rather shocked. This was, after all, the late 1800's, and two teenaged girls asking a significantly older and single man to help dress them was not something that was considered proper.

"Yeah, sure, why not?"

"I could give you many reasons why not," he said. "First, no. Second, it's just a little disturbing. Third, supposing someone came walking down and saw it, how would I explain? Fourth, no."

"Okay then, if you want us walking around in our panties, then don't help!"

"In all honesty," Jane admitted, "I have no qualms about walking around in nothing but my underpants."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."

"So," Hadley asked, "what's it going to be?"

Erik weighed the risks of his assisting the girls against his desire to not have them walking around in their undergarments all day, which would be much harder to explain then his helping them get dressed.

"Alright, fine, I'll help," he said with a resolute sigh. "But you better not make a habit of this."

Once the girls were dressed, the current residents of the lair went about their respective business; the girls sat on the stairs and talked, while Erik went to his organ and composed.

"So what are we going to do?" Hadley asked. "I mean, this has been nice and all, but we can't stay here forever."

"I have no idea," Jane said.

"Well you're the one who got us into this mess. Therefore, it becomes your responsibility to get us out."

"But I don't want to go!"

"Well, tough bananas!"

Erik shook his head, a small smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. These girls were proving to be rather entertaining. When they weren't walking around in their underpants, at least.

"I have an idea," Jane suddenly exclaimed. "It might not be able to get us home, but it will buy us some time until I can figure out a way."

"What?"

"We get jobs in the theater," Jane began. "That way, Erik can plot all he wants, and we'll stay out of his way! Not to mention, we'll have some money just in case we can't get back."

"Works for me," Hadley said as she stood up. "Now all we have to do is get some jobs here and we're set, but it might prove difficult to do so. People don't just go around hiring random strangers off the street."

Jane stood in thought and started to pace to the beat of Erik's playing of the organ.

"Besides," Hadley pointed out, "what sort of jobs would we have?"

"Something in the opera house," Jane said, "so we can stay here."

"Who said you were staying here?" Erik said. Unknown to the girls, he had been listening to the entire conversation while playing his organ. The man was certainly talented.

"Well where else are we supposed to stay?"

"Does it look like I care?

"Didn't we already have this whole 'police' conversation yesterday?"

"We also had the 'do anything annoying and I'll kill you' conversation."

Jane stopped pacing and pouted at Erik.

"Is it really _that_ bad to have other people near you?" she asked.

"If it's anyone but you two, not really," Erik said.

"What makes us so bad?" Hadley snapped.

"You're loud, obnoxious, unorthodox, strange beyond all reasonable comprehension, and generally headache-inducing," he said.

Behind him he heard a strange sound, one he hadn't heard since he was a child.

Crying.

Erik quickly turned around with a surprised look on his face. He didn't know he had hurt them _that_ bad. Jane stood there staring at him with tears streaming down her face, cheeks flushed red with anger. She clenched her hands together and bit her thumbs, choking back what was probably a stream of curses and insults.

Hadley could sense that something bad was going to happen if Jane wasn't calmed down soon. She hurried to her friend's side and stood in front of her, blocking her view of Erik.

"Jane," she said calmly, "it's okay. It's no big deal. Just breathe with me."

Jane and Hadley began to take large, slow breaths, their eyes closed. Erik had no idea what this was supposed to do, but after a few rounds of it Jane's hands unclenched and the crying stopped.

"Feel better?" Hadley asked.

"Yes."

Erik gave a sigh of relief under his breath, certain that he had been spared from what was probably a wrath equal to the intensity of the sun. He was only half right. Hadley, who was fiercely loyal to her friends and would do multiple unpleasant things to anyone who hurt them, now rounded on him with fire in her eyes.

"_You_," she said in a low and evil voice. Erik took a step backwards.

"You, sir, are the most despicable excuse for a human being I have ever had the displeasure of being acquainted with! You have no concept of compassion at all! So what if your life sucks? You're not the only person on the planet with issues! Get over yourself! If you do one cruel, heartless, asshole-ish thing, _I will castrate you!_"

Erik wasn't sure what "castrate" meant, but he was pretty sure he didn't want to find out. Hadley stood before him taking large breaths, trying to calm herself.

"We are staying here whether you like it or not," she said. "So if you have a problem with that, you can just get over it!"

With that, Hadley and Jane stalked past Erik to the staircase, where the sat down and began to talk with their heads close together. Erik got the unpleasant feeling that they were plotting against him, which was only increased by the times that they threw loathing glances in his direction. Erik, not knowing what else to do, stepped over to the girls and cleared his throat to get their attention, which was probably a bad idea considering they were still rather mad at him.

"Erm, hi," he said. "I…uh…just wanted to say that…erm…I'm…uh…sorry?"

"You're not very experienced in the whole apology thing, are you?" Jane asked.

"Well, no," he admitted. Erik sat down between the two girls, which was just a little awkward.

"Look, I know what I said was wrong and probably extremely rude, but we all know fighting isn't going to help anyone in this situation. Now, you two are getting jobs upstairs, right?"

"Right," Jane said.

"Well, I can't always keep an eye out on what I'm trying to get."

"You mean Christine?"

"How'd you know-I mean, who?"

"Don't insult our intelligence," Hadley said with one of her evil glares of doom. The Phantom scooted towards Jane in fear of the other girl's fiery looks, which made Jane very happy.

"Okay, so, I can't always be keeping an eye out for Christine. So that's where you two come in."

"So you want us to be her personal stalkers?" Jane asked.

"'Stalker' is such a vulgar word," Erik said. "I just need you to keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't get hurt or anything."

"Or date anyone."

"Exactly," Erik said. "So what do you think?"

Jane sat and pouted while Hadley put serious thought into the decision.

"So we stay here and baby sit your eye-candy, and you let us live down here with you?"

"What's eye-candy?"

"Never mind," Hadley said. "Is this pretty much what you want?"

"I guess," Erik shrugged. "Do we have an agreement?"

Hadley nodded her head and looked at Jane, who was still pouting angrily. Jane turned her head away from the other two, who were by now staring at her and wondering what on Earth could be the matter.

"A hug," Jane said.

"What?"

"You heard me. I refuse to do anything in that agreement until Mr. Moody over here gives me an apology hug."

Erik looked imploringly at Hadley.

"Do I really have to?" he begged.

"You heard her," Hadley answered, rather amused.

Erik sighed and hesitantly put one arm around Jane's shoulders. Jane still pouted and cleared her throat. Erik groaned and wrapped his other arm around her. Jane then proceeded to drape her arms around him, once again shoving a very flustered Erik's face into her neck. Hadley sat by trying not to laugh, though of course the humor left her face when she noticed Erik smelling Jane's neck. She wrenched the two apart and gave Erik a warning glare as if to say, "Don't get any ideas that I might have to kill you for."

Erik quickly stood up when he figured out what Hadley wanted to hurt him for.

"So we have a deal?"

"Deal," Jane and Hadley said in an unplanned unison that slightly scared Erik. Life with these two around was definitely going to be interesting.


	3. Drunkenness is BAD!

Life in the Opera House went on as normal, or as normal as it could be for two teenagers who were accustomed to the 21st century. It took a while to get used to the time-shift, and the lack of technology and basic living devices (such as microwaves and indoor plumbing) at first threw the girls into a bit of culture shock.

"What do you mean, walk outside?!" Jane yelled in the face of a very flustered stage hand. "I need to use the bathroom! Do you understand me?! BAAATH-ROOOOM!!!!"

"B-but th-that's where the-the o-outhouse is," he said, rather frightened.

"…Oh."

Hadley, meanwhile, was having just as much of a hard time adjusting as was Jane.

"Damn it I'm mad! I need my angry music!"

"This is the 1800's, remember?" Jane pointed out. "Rage Against the Machine, Nickleback, and Rise Against haven't even been born yet."

"NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!"

Oh yes, they were having a hard time adjusting. But their issues with the current century weren't nearly as big as the current century's issues with them.

"Where are my maids?" the angry woman who was in charge of the cleaning staff shouted. Jane and Hadley ran towards her as fast as they could, tripping over the edges of the dresses that they had been given (out of pity), and still weren't used to.

"We're here, we're here, don't have a cow," Jane said.

"What is the meaning of this?" the cranky woman snapped, pointing a long finger to a statue. Just yesterday Hadley had been cleaning it and decided to make a joke.

"Hey Jane, look at this!"

Hadley had crawled up the statue's back and was now sitting on its shoulders. She grabbed the head and began to shake it violently back and forth.

"Hadley, get down!" Jane shouted. "You're going to-"

_Snap._

"Break it."

While wobbling the head, Hadley had snapped it clean off. So the girls did the only thing they could think to do. They took the head and stuffed it under a rug.

As you can tell, it didn't work out quite the way they had planned.

"Uuuhhh…it…must…have…been…the…Phantom!"

"Hey, don't get me in trouble!"

"What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing."

"He probably was in pain from hearing Carlotta sing that high note yesterday, and out of pain and anger he broke the statue!" Hadley explained to the sour-faced woman before them. "I mean, who wouldn't be in pain after hearing that?"

Then, in the background, Carlotta let out a piercing high note while warming up, causing a good number of the stage hands to go temporarily deaf.

"Ow…" Jane said as she started to rub her ears. "I think my eardrum is bleeding."

The elderly lady just sighed, shook her head, and walked away. Jane then proceeded to whack Hadley on the back of the head.

"Hey, what was that for!?" Hadley exclaimed.

"It's your fault the statue got broken! You're darn lucky that didn't get us fired," Jane snapped. "If you pull another stunt like that again I will not hesitate to pop you head open!"

Jane then grabbed Hadley and put her in a fierce headlock.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow! Jane, let goooo!" Hadley whined. The little war between the two girls was ended shortly by the clearing of someone's throat. Turning to look at who interrupted them, Jane looked in the direction of the noise.

"The Vicompte de Changy!" Jane breathed, trying to act if she were swooning and not about to vomit. "What is a man of such high status doing here when there is no performance to be seen?"

The Vicompte(AKA The Fop) stared at the two female teens before speaking.

"I'm here to see the owners of this Opera House." At this point in time Hadley decided to get off the floor and join the conversation.

"Owners? There is only one owner of this Opera house."

"You haven't been told yet?" he said.

"Told what?" Jane asked, playing stupid.

"You shall soon find out." Raoul said as he continued over to the stage where two gentlemen were standing looking as if they were worshiping Carlotta. One of the men noticed Raoul and quickly walked over to him.

"And we are deeply honored to introduce our new patron; The Vicompte de Changy." Raoul smiled and started to speak about how his family was glad to support the Opera Populaire. Jane had shut out Raoul and pulled Hadley over to whisper in her ear.

"Hadley, we should report this to the Phantom. No doubt this will upset him, but it's better if he knows of the competition."

"I'm sure he already knows," Hadley pointed out. "Remember where we are in the story?"

The girls listened to the conversation. The Vicompte was leaving and Carlotta was muttering to her assistants about how much he "loved" her. The ballet girls were dancing, Mme. Giry was talking to Andre and Firmin, and the new managers were leering at the scantily-dressed girls.

"Oh, right," Jane said. "He should be showing up right about…"

Carlotta was now singing "Think of Me" (dragging it out unnecessarily). Hadley and Jane discreetly looked up to the rafters to see a dark shadow moving towards the set pieces.

There was a loud crash as the background fell to the floor directly behind the screaming diva.

"…Now."

The stage had been abruptly turned into a state of chaos. Stage hands were running, ballet girls were screaming, Carlotta was crying, and Hadley and Jane pointed and laughed.

"It must have been a ghost!" said Joseph Buquet from up in the flies. Hadley and Jane looked at each other pointedly while everyone else whispered in fear. Mme. Giry wandered off to look for the Phantom's note while the new managers tried to calm everyone down. Jane, in the mood for mischief, decided to have some fun.

"To bad it didn't actually hit her, at least then we'd never have to hear the toad's awful voice." Hadley snickered along with a few of the ballet girls and stage hands. Carlotta on the other hand snarled at Jane and glared at her angrily. If looks could kill, not only would Jane be dead but blood would cover the stage inches deep.

Mme. Giry was now reading off the note Erik had left. The managers were quickly getting angry, and even more so when they were reminded about the gala that was planned for the evening, which they would now have to cancel thanks to Carlotta's quitting.

"Christine Daae could sing it sir," Mme. Giry suggested.

"What, a chorus girl?"

Mme. Giry managed to convince the managers to hear Christine sing the aria, which she did splendidly then in addition to during the performance at night. Hadley and Jane stood off stage and listened with everyone else. Somewhere, they knew, Erik was listening to his Angel. This thought made Jane extremely jealous.

Later on back in the lair, Jane and Hadley waited for Erik to return with his kidnap-ee. Jane was rather unhappy about the whole business, especially because Erik had stressed many times how important it was to his plans that Hadley and Jane stay out of the way and not mess anything up.

"Stupid, stinking, rotten…" Jane muttered under her breath as she sat at the table poking holes in it with a knife.

"Jane, mutilating the poor table isn't going to help anything," Hadley pointed out.

"It's the only thing I can manipulate," Jane said. "Without spilling blood, that is."

From somewhere across the lake, the girls heard the sound of singing. Erik and Christine would be returning soon, which was their queue to leave. They hid themselves in the study just as the portcullis opened and the boat entered.

"Oo, I love this song!" Hadley exclaimed under her breath to Jane when Erik began to sing "Music of the Night." Jane said nothing, but stood to listen, hanging on his every word.

"Jane?" Hadley asked. "Are you okay?"

Jane seemed to be under just as much of a trance as Christine, and Hadley could tell that if she didn't intervene it would end badly.

Sure enough, Jane began to walk towards the sound of the Phantom's voice, her eyes glassing and a dull expression on her face. Just before she reached the door, Hadley grabbed the back of her dress and shoved her friend into a chair.

"What is the matter with you?" she hissed in Jane's face. "If we screw this up, he'll kill us!"

"Sorry," Jane said sheepishly, coming out of her trance. "I…I just couldn't help myself."

"Well you'd better learn!"

Soon Erik stopped singing and the girls decided to go out and see if the coast was clear. Erik had pulled off his cape and took a seat at the organ, composing more music. Hadley and Jane moved over towards him.

"So…did it work?" Jane asked making a motion to sit next to him. Erik moved over leaving no room for Jane to sit making her pout sadly.

"Yes, she's in my room resting. Don't go near her while she sleeps, understand?" Jane glared at the door to Erik's room and Hadley sighed. This was going to be difficult.

"So what are we to do if she wakes up and sees us?" Hadley asked grabbing the back of Jane's dress; Jane had somehow gotten the knife from earlier and was making her way over to the door. Luckily Hadley notice before Erik and pulled her over. "You can't expect us to sleep in the study until she leaves." Erik turned towards the girl to respond when he noticed the look in Jane's eyes and the knife in her hand.

"Where did you get the knife?" Erik asked. Jane quickly looked at the knife in her hand and tried to spit out an excuse.

"Um…well….I…was…practicing my knife throwing!" Jane said as she chucked the knife at a near by chair, embedding it in a good inch. "You know, just trying to kill time!" Jane giggled nervously as Erik stared at her. Jane then leaned into his face. "But, Hadley has a point what are we to do until she leaves? I'm not going to stay in the boring room all night!" Erik leaned back and turned towards the organ again.

"You can sleep in the study for the night, but feel free to go to the gala and enjoy yourselves for a few hours." Erik then started to play his music writing a few notes on the paper every once in a while. Jane pouted and turned on her heal dragging Hadley with her.

"We'll be upstairs then. Don't bother trying to call us!" Jane growled angrily while walking over to a door that had a spiral staircase.

Even though Erik had told the girls to go to the gala and enjoy themselves, Jane found that rather difficult. She spent most of the time sitting in a corner, muttering curses to herself.

"Stinking, spoiled, little brat!" she complained. "Why'd he have to kidnap her?"

"Uh, Jane?" Hadley said, sitting next to her friend and holding her hand, trying to calm her down before she caused a scene. "Could you-"

"She's not even that pretty anyway," Jane said, completely cutting off her friend. "What's so great about her? She's an airhead with a nice voice!"

"Jane?"

"I'd like to show that little brat a thing or two about life! She wouldn't know what hit her!"

"JANE!"

"WHAT?!"

"Your fingernails are digging into my palm!"

Jane looked down to see that Hadley was right; her nails were embedded into her friend's hand.

"Oh, sorry," she apologized, letting go. Hadley massaged her hand.

"Why are you so mad about this anyway?" she asked. "I mean, yeah it sucks that he's gonna get hurt in the end, but I've never seen you get this upset over it."

Jane thought for a moment.

"I don't really know," she admitted. "It's just that, somehow, meeting him for real makes everything so much harder to bear. We know all this, but we can't tell him. And if we did, he wouldn't listen to us."

"Well, like you mentioned," Hadley said, "We can't do anything. We'll just have to sit by and comfort him when it happens."

"I guess," Jane sighed. Suddenly, a wicked grin spread over her face. This made Hadley very, very scared; this was the face Jane used when she had just had a brilliantly evil idea.

"No Jane," she said. "Whatever it is, no!"

"You don't even know what I was going to say!"

"But I know that face!"

"I was just thinking," Jane said. "We can't change the main events of the story, but who's to say we can't have a little fun?"

"Oh dear."

Before Hadley could do anything, Jane jumped over to the drink table and shouted, "DRINKING CONTEST!"

"Oh God," Hadley said, following her friend.

Jane received a few weird looks from random patrons before one of the stage hands took her up on her offer. From that point on, the night pretty much went downhill. Jane drank until she collapsed, and Hadley was left to carry her friend back down to the lair. Thankfully Erik's charge was still asleep, so she didn't have to hide in the study.

"What in the nine levels of Hell happened to her?" Erik asked when Hadley came back into the lair with an unconscious Jane slung over her shoulder.

"Let me put it this way," Hadley said. "Jane, plus angry, plus copious amounts of alcohol, equals bad!"

"Why was she angry?" Erik wanted to know.

"Uh…time of the month?"

"What?"

"You don't want to know."

"…Oh…"

There was another awkward silence.

"Well, are you going to help me?"

"Oh, right."

Hadley went into the study and pulled the covers back while Erik carried Jane in. Just as he set her down, she woke up in an inebriated stupor. Jane looked up at Erik and let out a drunken giggle.

"Hey, hey you want to know something?" Jane slurred. Erik moved down to Jane's feet and started to remove her shoes as Hadley got a bucket for later on when the hangover hit.

"And what might that be?" Erik asked not really paying attention.

"You're a moron." Erik looked up at Jane and raised an eyebrow.

"Am I now?" Jane sat up with some difficulty.

"Yup, you could've just waited here till you had enough money then moved far away, come up with a story for your face and lived life as an everyday person with a bad past…or something." Erik started at Jane for a moment, holding one of her shoes.

"…Why didn't _I_ think of that?"

"You never got drunk enough to actually ponder it." Jane said, falling back on the bed and mumbling something about evil toast. Erik finished taking off Jane's shoes and set them by the bed while Hadley set the bucket on the ground nearby. Erik walked towards the door thinking quietly to himself.

"I wonder if-,"

"Don't even think about it Erik!" Hadley snapped before he left the room. "The last thing I need is for _you_ to get drunk!"

"Darn it."


	4. Oh God, Not Another One

The next day, Jane awoke from her drunken stupor

The next day, Jane awoke from her drunken stupor.

"Ahh…my head."

She lay in bed for a while, trying to get over the pounding in her head. After a while it subsided, and she decided to go look for Hadley. Putting on some clothes, she wandered out of the study and into the main grotto. Erik sat at his organ, writing furiously. Hadley was nowhere to be seen.

"Morning Erik," she murmured. He didn't respond, but continued to scribble.

"I said, good morning Erik," she repeated, determined to get an answer out of him.

"Hmph."

Jane wandered around Erik to see what he was up to, but something caught her eye. Looking at the door to the swan bedroom, she realized that Christine was no longer there.

"Where's Christine?" she asked.

"Hmph."

"Let me guess: she woke up."

"Hmph."

"Grunt if you're a moron."

"Shut up."

"So she woke up?" Jane, of course, knew the answer to this question, but she was asking to avoid having to explain how exactly she knew.

"You know something?" Erik said. "I think I liked you better when you were drunk. At least you stayed quiet."

"Well _some_one woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Jane snapped. The arguing was starting to hurt her head again.

"Why don't you just go knock yourself out again?" Erik said, venom dripping from the words. "At least I won't have to deal with you then!"

Jane stepped back at the rude insult, her eyes starting to water.

"Well," she said, turning away. "You could at least be a little bit polite."

"Give me one good reason."

Jane said nothing, but kept her back to Erik, determined to not let him see her wet face.

"Well?" he growled. "Are you going to tell me or not? Or perhaps you're still too hung over to think properly?"

Jane, having finally gotten tired of his rude comments, turned around.

"SHUT UP!" she cried, her voice echoing off the walls and tears streaming down her face. She picked up the knife that she had left in the chair the day before and threw it at him. Luckily for Erik, sadness and fatigue had put a serious dent in her aim, and he was able to duck.

"Shut up!" she screamed again. "I don't give a damn that she's gone! That's _your_ problem! Don't take your anger at your pathetic life out on me!"

She grabbed the knife again, and charged at him. Fear was etched all over Erik's face as he dodged Jane's numerous attempts at putting holes in his vital organs.

"Whoa, calm down!" he said desperately. "You don't have to get violent!"

Just as Jane made a mad stab at his chest, he grabbed her wrist and twisted it to make her drop the knife. As it fell out of her hand and clattered to the floor, she seemed to regain her sanity. Her eyes became large and shocked at what she had tried to do. She quickly pulled out of Erik's grasp and took a few steps backwards.

"I – you – knife," she stammered, trying to form a coherent sentence.

Jane then proceeded to run away. Fast.

Erik made a mad dash to catch Jane.

"Oh no you don't!"

Erik tackled Jane to the ground in hopes of stopping her.

"Get the Hell off of me!" she shouted "You depressed bastard!"

"Psychopathic bitch!"

Jane slapped Erik across the face. Hard.

"Ouch!"

"You deserved it you asshole!"

By this time the two were now in a full-out brawl. Punches were being thrown and slaps were being delivered. Jane's foot caught Erik in the stomach and he instantly let her go, all the breath knocked out of him.

"You deserved that too!" Jane snapped, sitting up.

Erik sat up and glared at Jane.

"Why you spoiled brat!" Erik stood up and grabbed Jane's hands and pinned her to a near by wall. At this point in time Hadley thought it would be a good idea to come back with some food for Jane, for it was around lunchtime. Hadley stared at the two for a moment, not really expecting to see Jane pinned to the wall by Erik, both panting heavily, their faces not far from each other.

"You know," she said, "I was going to ask what in the nine levels of Hell you two were doing that caused you to end up in such an…_awkward_ position, but then I figured, I probably don't want to know."

Jane turned to face Hadley and blushed red.

"HADLEY!! GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER, OR I WILL HURT YOU!!"

"OH GOD I DIDN'T MEAN THAT!"

Erik finally understood.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH YOU TWO?!" Erik threw himself away from Jane and shuddered at the thoughts crossing his mind.

Jane slowly turned to look at Erik with a look of pure loathing.

"Do you really want to know, Erik? Do you?"

"You know what? No."

"That's what I thought." Jane turned and picked up the knife. "Now back to what we started."

"Oh dear," Hadley said. Before Jane could run at Erik again, Hadley grabbed her friend and took the knife away.

"Hadley! Give me back the knife!"

"Don't give it back to her!" Erik cried desperately.

"You, shut up. You, calm down," Hadley ordered. "I don't know or care how this whole thing started, but I'm here to tell you it had better stop. I don't want to think about the time-space-continuum repercussions if you two kill each other!"

"The time-space-what?"

"Never mind," Hadley said. "Just no more killing."

"But-"

"NO KILLING!!"

"Ok…"

The three sat down to a very quiet and very awkward lunch. Erik and Jane glared at each other from across the table, and Hadley had to try to eat without looking at her food so she could keep the other two in check. After the meal was finished, Erik went to his organ and the girls went to the study to talk.

"What happened?" Hadley asked as she started down at a very grumpy Jane.

"I blame society," she snapped. "If it weren't for them, he would have never been such a pompous bastard."

"Wait a minute," Hadley said. "Weren't you just telling me the other day how sorry you felt for him?"

"That was before he started acting like a pompous bastard."

"What did he do?"

"He made fun of me, insulted me, and was just downright rude! You know I can't keep my anger bottled up for that long if someone is like that! And for some reason I've been in the mood to kill recently…"

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear the killing comment," Hadley said. She thought for a few moments. "Have you tried talking to him about this?"

"No," Jane admitted. "But I don't think he'd listen even if I tried."

"It's worth a shot," Hadley said. "Here, I'll stand by and referee for you. If he starts to get out of line, I'll hit him."

"Alright, fine," Jane said. The two headed out to the main grotto where Erik was engrossed in his organ. As the girls approached, he didn't look up.

"Erm, Erik?" Jane said. He didn't say anything. "I just wanted to say…that…I'm…sorry?"

Erik's hand froze over the sheet of music mid-bar. He turned to face the girls.

"What?"

"I said, I'm sorry," Jane repeated. The more she talked, the faster she went. "It's just that I really can't stand it when people are rude to me because it makes me so mad inside and I get really angry at them and then I have to work really hard not to blow up in their faces and if I do then I get really violent and then I sort of forget what I'm doing and I just grab whatever I can that I think will cause them pain and I just sort of go and go and go and-"

"JANE!" Erik said loudly. Jane stopped.

"Yes?"

"That's okay," he said. "I accept your apology."

"You do?" both girls said in the same creepily perfect unison.

"Yes. And I believe I probably owe you an apology as well. I've been a little testy lately."

"Oh, uh, apology accepted," Jane said, shocked. She didn't think that her saying she was sorry would have worked, but the last thing she had expected was for him to apologize as well. It was all a little weird.

"Well," she said, "I'm…going to…go…over…here!"

Jane ran away to the study and threw the curtain down over the doorway. Hadley and Erik sat there and started at each other.

"Does she do that a lot?" Erik asked.

"Only when she's really nervous," Hadley said. "Wait a minute…excuse me for a second."

Hadley ran to the study after Jane, leaving a very confused Erik sitting at his organ and trying to figure out what Hadley had said.

"JANE!" Hadley screeched at her friend. "DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!"

"Too late."

"Then don't do anything about it!"

"Well I have to tell him at some point!"

"No you don't! You can't tell anyone! They'll think you're crazy!"

"You mean like you?"

"Yes. I mean, no!"

"Calm down," Jane said with a dejected sigh. "He's too infatuated with his precious Christine to even think of me that way. Not to mention, the thought would probably disgust him."

Hadley sighed and sat down next to her friend, putting a comforting arm around her shoulder.

"Don't you worry about him," she said. "If he's too busy to notice you, then it's his loss."

Jane smiled a little.

"Thanks," she said.

"What are best friends who are like sisters for?" Hadley said. "Comforting their girls and hitting the jerks who piss them off."

Jane laughed.

But, unknown to the both of them, Erik heard the whole conversation from outside the curtain. Jane was right about one thing; at first thought, he was thoroughly disgusted. But the more he thought about it, the less unpleasant it seemed to become. Jane was violent and determined, and so was he. Perhaps that's why he loved the smell of her so much, or the fact that she was able to intimidate him. No one, not even Mme. Giry, who was like the mother he had never had, had ever been able to do that.

Erik stopped thinking for a moment. What of Christine? No doubt the girls would notice if he stopped paying so much attention to her, which would arouse their suspicions (and lots of violence from Hadley, whose fiercely loyal tendencies he had long since learned not to cross). Erik decided to play along with what he had been planning before the girls showed up, to keep suspicion off of him and to keep the girls focused.

Life continued on as normal (or as normal as it could be for the given situation). Hadley was careful not to leave Jane and Erik alone together in fear of one of them trying to pull something. Time had passed, and the production of _Il Muto_ was right around the corner. Much to Erik's dismay, the managers had not taken his threats of certain disaster seriously, and the Toad was once again in the lead role, while Christine had been demoted to the part of the Page Boy. Jane and Hadley knew exactly what sort of cruelly hilarious revenge Erik would enact upon Carlotta.

It was the night of the show, and Hadley and Jane were backstage. Carlotta was yelling at her attendants to hurry up with her makeup, people were walking around in strange costumes, and the dancers were warming up in their shepherdess costumes.

Soon everyone heard the call to get to their places, and the show began. The curtain went up, and the singing began. Carlotta was belting like a dying elephant that had been kicked in the crotch, and Hadley and Jane were snickering about this comment when they heard Erik's voice, amplified hundreds of times by the acoustics of the theater.

"Did I not instruct," he said, "That Box 5 was to be kept empty?"

"Yeah I think you did," Jane called. Hadley smacked her upside the head, and smiled at the people who stared at them.

"Your part is silent, little toad!" Carlotta snapped at Christine. Jane and Hadley knew that this was when things were about to get interesting.

Sure enough, halfway through the line, Carlotta's voice gave out. There was laughter from the audience as she tried again. She continued to lose her voice until all that could come out was a sound similar to either a cow giving birth or a dieing frog, Jane couldn't quite decide. Carlotta eventually ran off stage thoroughly embarrassed, and the managers ran on.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Firmin said, "We apologize. Uh, the, uh, performance will continue in ten minute's time when the role of the Countess will be played by Miss Daae."

Firmin reached behind the curtain and produced a thoroughly confused Christine. The managers allowed people to clap for about five seconds before thrusting her towards the dressing rooms.

"Meanwhile," Andre continued, "We would like to give you the ballet from Act 3 of tonight's opera."

"What?!"

"The ballet! The ballet!"

The managers left the stage with a final "Thank you!" and the curtain went up to reveal the stage in a state of chaos. Ballet girls and stagehands were running into each other as they rushed to get to their places or change the scenery. Jane and Hadley, once again, pointed and laughed.

Finally the ballet started and the audience quieted. With a pang of fear, Hadley remembered something.

"Uh, Jane?"

"Yes?"

"You do know what's about to happen, right?"

Jane thought for a moment.

"Oh my God," she said. The girls slowly looked up at the flies above the stage. They could barely make out the shapes of Erik and Joseph Buquet, the resident perverted stagehand, running across the boards. Eventually, Erik caught Buquet and slipped his Punjab lasso around the fallen man's neck. Hadley averted her eyes, not able to stand the sight of someone being murdered in cold blood. Jane, on the other hand, watched with fear evident in her eyes.

The audience screamed in terror. The ballet girls squealed and rushed from the stage and the body hanging above it. Jane and Hadley, for the first time in the whole adventure, didn't laugh their heads off at the sight of mass chaos.

"I have to get out of here," Hadley said to a stunned Jane, trying to avoid looking at the grisly scene on the stage.

The two girls slipped away from the crowds and back towards the prima donna dressing room, which they knew was now vacated. They slipped through the mirror and down to the boat.

Back in the lair, the girls were still in a state of shock. Jane collapsed into a chair, her face blank. Hadley, unable to hold it back any longer, stumbled to the lake and vomited.

"I forgot he could do that," Jane murmured, tears starting to fall down her face. Hadley turned to face her friend, wiping her mouth on the sleeve of her dress.

"That was horrible," she said as she sat down next to Jane. "I mean, I know that it was just Buquet and all, but…_holy mother of God._"

"The strangest part is," Jane said, "I still feel for the guy."

"You have a twisted taste in men."

"No, I mean, think about what's happening to him right now."

Hadley thought for a moment.

"Oh yeah," she said sadly.

The girls sat in the lair for a while, not knowing when Erik would be back. After a while, he entered. His face was just as numb as theirs had been, but instead of shock it bore an expression of extreme sadness.

He said nothing to Jane or Hadley, but sat down at his organ and put his head in his hands.

Jane and Hadley cautiously walked over to him.

"Erik, are you ok?" Jane asked, slowly resting a hand on his shoulder. Hadley sat nearby, still not really comfortable with the whole killing thing. Erik looked up at Jane's wet face and over to Hadley, who looked sick beyond reason.

"I'm fine," he said. "I just need some sleep."

Erik stood up and slowly marched up to his room, an air of depression coming from him. Jane watched Erik leave and turned to Hadley.

"Go to bed, ok? You look like you could use some sleep," she stated, helping Hadley to her feet. Hadley could only nod and head to the study.

Once Hadley was in the study, Jane walked over to the swan bedroom. Erik lay facedown on the bed.

"Suffocating yourself isn't a good idea," Jane said. Erik rolled over.

"Do you have a better one?" he asked.

"Well, no," Jane admitted. "But I'm sure I'll come up with something."

Jane sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Look, I'm really sorry," she said. "It must really hurt."

Erik sighed.

"You have no idea," he said.

"Actually, I think I do," Jane muttered.

Erik sat up and dragged a hand over his face.

"Answer me this," he said, looking at Jane. "What is it about me that everyone finds so repulsive?"

"Other than the killings and the kidnappings?" she asked.

"Erm, I suppose."

"Well, if you ask me, I don't think there's anything wrong with you."

Erik looked at her in shock.

"Really?"

"Really."

"I mean, even my…_deformity_ doesn't bother you?"

"Not at all."

He scooted closer to Jane.

"Then one of us must be crazy," he said.

Jane couldn't take her eyes off of Erik. Her mind was racing; there had to be some way to break the awkward silence.

"I wish Chelsea were here," she blurted. Erik froze.

"Who's Chelsea?" he asked.

"She's one of my-"

There was a splash.

"-Friends?"

Erik looked back and forth from the direction of the lake to Jane, his expression growing steadily darker.

"You didn't," he hissed.

"I hope not."

"Jane? Hadley?" Chelsea's voice rang out from over the lake.

"Oh, Lordy Lou," Jane murmured.


	5. We're going to a Party

Jane and Erik rushed outside. Hadley stood outside the study staring at the lake.

Out of the water emerged the dirty blonde hair and very confused face of Chelsea. She wore a maroon dress in the same style of the other two girls with ¾ sleeves. Her expression was pure shock.

"Jane? Hadley?" Chelsea asked. There was a moment of silence, which Erik proceeded to break.

"_WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!"_ he screamed.

"I am your worst nightmare and your most beautiful dream," she replied, climbing out of the lake and wringing the water from her hair and clothes. She flashed Erik a smile, which did not go unnoticed by Jane.

"Chelsea!" she shouted threateningly. "How many times do I have to tell you to not flirt with my guy?!"

"Excuse me?!" Erik said.

"Just don't ask," Hadley warned him. She turned to Jane. "Did you bring her here?"

"It was an accident, I swear!" Jane protested. "One minute I was just thinking about how I wanted Chelsea to be here and the next I was saying how I wanted her to be here and then she was here!"

Erik turned to Jane with an expression that said he would murder her on the spot if he had the chance to do so.

"_You _brought her here?" he asked threateningly. Jane shrunk under his gaze. "I am barely becoming acclimated to you two, and you had to bring in _another one?_"

"It…was…an…accident?" she squeaked. Erik didn't seem to be buying it. Hadley and Chelsea thought it would be best to interject before the confrontation ended in death. Chelsea grabbed Jane and Hadley grabbed Erik, pulling the two apart before any damage could be done.

"Okay, okay, that's enough!" Hadley said. "There's been enough death here tonight, let's not give the coroner a bonus!"

"Who else died?" Chelsea asked, unaware of the place in the story that she had dropped into.

"He," Hadley informed her friend, pointing to Erik, "just hung Buquet."

"Oh. Alright."

"You always have to overreact to everything don't you?" Jane said glaring at Erik.

"What am I suppose to do? Just smile, nod and welcome another psychotic woman into my domain!?"

"Exactly," Jane stated.

Erik growled and wiggled out of Hadley's grasp. He stalked over to Jane and Chelsea with a look that could kill in his eyes.

"You are impossible!" Erik said as he yelled at Jane.

"And you're a buffoon who has to depend on psychotic women like me to get close to your precious little Christine!" Jane retorted with malice in her voice.

Erik had no retort for that. He simply stood before a triumphantly-smiling Jane, opening and closing his mouth over and over again as if he was trying to say something but couldn't find the words. Eventually he gave up and, with a frustrated shout, stomped out of the main grotto and into the swan bedroom, slamming the curtain shut behind him.

Jane grinned victoriously and turned to face the other two.

"Well I think that went quite nicely, don't you?" she said with a smile. Hadley and Chelsea exchanged glances.

"So what _am_ I doing here?" Chelsea asked. "For that matter, what are _you_ doing here?"

"Excellent question," Jane said. "We won that contest and came to the opera house, stood on the stage and wished really hard that we could be in the Phantom's time, and before we knew it we were falling through the space-time-continuum-thingy into the lake."

"…Wow."

"That's pretty much exactly what was running through our heads at the time," Jane said.

"So what do we do now?"

"Well," Hadley said, "I think the first order of business is to find some place for you to sleep, and hopefully by morning we'll have thought of a better plan. Although, I'm not really sure where we're going to get an extra blanket. The only other one I know of in this whole god-forsaken hellhole is in the swan bedroom."

"I'll see to that," Jane said. Without a second thought she walked after Erik into the swan bedroom. After a moment they heard a shout of protest from the room, and Jane walked out carrying Erik's blanket.

"Now we're all good," she said. Erik appeared again.

"Give that back!" he shouted in a slightly whiney voice.

"Get over it!" she snapped. Erik mumbled some more and walked back.

"Let's get some sleep," Jane said, tromping towards the study. Hadley and Chelsea looked at each other, shrugged, and followed Jane.

The next two months passed quite strangely. Chelsea joined Jane and Hadley in their jobs as maids around the Opera House and assisting Erik in his diabolical plans for revenge. All in all, many things were broken and many people were mentally scarred for life.

Slowly, the time for the masquerade ball approached, and the girls became more and more desperate to get into the party. Erik, of course, refused to help them in fear that they would spoil his plans, but they were undeterred.

One day in the Opera House, an opportunity presented itself. The girls were cleaning the floors in the main hallway when the Vicompte Raoul de Changy came walking down the stairs muttering angrily to himself.

"Those fools don't know who they're messing with," he murmured. Jane, Chelsea, and Hadley pretended to not be listening. "He's not gone, and he's not stupid enough to fall into any trap that they could devise. That damn Phantom's going to try something; I just know it."

The last sentence gave Jane an idea that just might get them into the party. Abandoning her cleaning supplies, she sprung to her feet.

"Excuse me, M. le Vicompte?" she said. Raoul stopped and looked at Jane.

"Erm, yes?" he asked. Hadley and Chelsea paused from their cleaning.

"I couldn't help but hear your little problem," Jane said, "and I think we can help."

The other two, getting the feeling that Jane was referring to them, stood up. Raoul looked around at the three girls and gave a hollow laugh.

"And why's that?" he asked.

"Well, I'm certain that the Phantom would not expect three innocent women to be guarding your precious Christine," she said.

"I suppose n – wait, how did you know I was referring to Christine?"

"Oh please, it's obvious!" Hadley said bluntly. "You've been hanging on her every whim since you got here!"

Raoul's face turned slightly pink and he scratched his head in an uncomfortable way.

"Is it really that obvious?" he asked awkwardly.

"Let me put it this way," Chelsea said. "It's as obvious as if I was running around naked."

"…Oh."

"Anyway," Jane said, "We would be more than happy to offer our services as her personal bodyguards for the evening. We keep an eye on her and inform you immediately if we see anything suspicious."

Raoul considered the offer for a moment.

"And what would you want in return?" he asked.

"Nothing," Jane said. "But there is the little problem of us not being invited to the masquerade in the first place."

"So I would have to get you in?"

"Precisely."

"In that case I'll speak to the managers immediately," Raoul said. With a nod towards the girls, he headed back up the stairs.

Hadley and Chelsea turned to face Jane.

"That was pure genius!" Chelsea exclaimed.

"Oh, stop!" Jane said in a fake shy voice.

"One problem you guys," Hadley said. "I hate to be the pessimist, but what's Erik going to do when he finds out that we're not only going to the masquerade, but we're guarding his girl from him?"

"Who said anything about guarding Christine?"

"I believe _you_ did."

"Of course we'll be guarding her," Jane explained. "We'll just conveniently…_disappear_ at the most inopportune moment, if you catch my drift."

"I see," Hadley said. "But there is another problem."

"What's that?"

"What are we going to wear?"

There was an awkward silence.

"I _knew_ I forgot something!"

Jane started to pace back and forth in thought.

"Okay," she said. "I have an idea, but you guys are going to have to take over my chores for a while to make sure it works."

"Why's that?" Chelsea asked. "What's the idea?"

"Because for the next month," Jane told them, "I'm going to be making our dresses."

Hadley stared at Jane weirdly.

"Where do you plan on getting supplies for this?" she asked. "Not to mention, even if we do cover all of your chores, you're still not going to have enough time to make three ball gowns."

"There are some old dresses that the Opera House doesn't use any more," Jane said. "Just a few alterations and I'll have perfect evening-wear for all of us!"

"Where are you going to do this?" Chelsea asked. "Erik isn't that stupid; he's bound to find out sooner or later!"

Jane thought for a moment.

"There's an old sewing room in one of the lower levels of the theater," she said. "It's mostly storage now, but it's big enough for me to work there."

Hadley sighed and shook her head.

"I still think you're crazy," she commented.

"I love you too Hadley," Jane retorted.


	6. Why Does Love Have To Be So Awkward?

A/N: I'm not the only one writing this; the real Hadley and Chelsea are helping too

A/N: I'm not the only one writing this; the real Hadley and Chelsea are helping too! Sorry I forgot to mention that…

Oh, and this chapter contains some questionable language.

The evening of the masquerade ball approached quickly. Jane had finished Hadley's and Chelsea's dresses and was just getting done with her own when the time came for them to get ready.

Chelsea's dress was a deep red. It had one sleeve with a piece of fabric crossing her body to the other side, where her arm was bare. It gracefully fell to the floor with a long train decorated in black lace flowing off the back. In her hair sat a beautiful crystal black rose hairclip. Her mask was black velvet with red swirls on the sides.

Hadley wore a dress of aquamarine. It was strapless with two detached sleeves tied to her arms with ribbon. She had no train, but the dress bellowed out more than Chelsea's. The bodice was decorated to look like fish scales of black lace. Her hair was in a bun, and off to the side near the back was a small, dark blue fish. Her mask was black with the sides decorated to look like aquamarine fishtails.

Jane's dress was white and flowing. It went all the way to the floor in many folds of fabric with details of blue beads. It was in the style of a turtleneck, but it was also sleeveless. Her short hair was pulled back with a simple white ribbon. Her mask was simple white velvet with feathers and pearls around the edges, and the eyes outlined in ribbon.

The girls dressed in the study and walked out to the main grotto a half hour before the beginning of the party. Erik was walking out of the swan bedroom at the same time, and he and Jane locked eyes for a moment. Suddenly, Erik came back to his senses.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked suspiciously.

"The masquerade ball," Jane told him. Erik, up until now, had had no idea that the girls were planning on attending the ball. He was rather displeased, to say the very least.

"No you're not," he said firmly, folding his arms.

"Uh, yeah, I think we are," Hadley retorted.

"Well I think you're not."

"Did anyone ask for your opinion?" Chelsea snapped.

"I don't trust you three!" Erik complained. "Knowing you, my plans will be going perfectly smoothly and then one of you will do something stupid and mess it all up!"

Jane, Hadley, and Chelsea all exchanged glances.

"Oh Erik, is that how you see it?" Jane asked in a creepily soothing voice. Erik looked down at the girls suspiciously.

"Yes, it is," he replied.

"Well in that case," she said, "I'll stay behind to make sure nothing bad happens."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Oh, well, erm, thank you," Erik stuttered. Jane motioned to the other two girls with her hand that they should get going.

"I'll help you get ready Erik," she said in a mother-hen type of way. She ushered Erik towards the swan bedroom. She turned back to her friends before they left and mouthed the words, "I'll be out soon."

Hadley and Chelsea had no choice but to trust Jane's better judgment and head up to the masquerade.

"What do you suppose she's going to do?" Hadley asked as they walked through the backstage areas.

"I get the feeling that we probably don't want to know," Chelsea said. Hadley nodded in agreement.

"That's a good idea my friends! Just don't ask questions when I'm around!"

Hadley and Chelsea nearly jumped out of their skins. Jane stood behind them with a mischievous grin on her face. Erik was nowhere to be seen.

"How did you get here so quickly?" Hadley asked. "And where's Erik?"

Jane gave a smile of fake innocence.

"Let's just say his plans might have to be put on hiatus for a while," she said with sneakiness in her voice.

Chelsea and Hadley thought it would be best not to ask questions. The girls made their way to the party with a shortcut from the balcony. While on the balcony they ran into Raoul, who was more than happy to see them.

"There you are! What took so long?!"

"Sorry, it took a little longer to get ready than we thought it would." Hadley responded quickly while smiling; Jane and Chelsea were too busy gawking at the dancing and drinking below.

"I see. Well, I'll be with Christine dancing most of the night. Just keep an eye out for the Phantom and if you see him come tell me, or scream if you're too far away."

Hadley nodded her head in response as Raoul walked off to go dance with Christine. The girls glanced at each other and, with a nod towards the grand staircase, made their way to join the party.

In the psychological community, there is a phenomenon known as the "Staring-during-a-grand-entrance Syndrome." When one is affected by this, their eye is drawn to someone who is making a grand entrance, and they proceed to gawk like Paris Hilton at the Mall of America. This principle was best demonstrated by the crowd at the masquerade (well, mostly the male population of the crowd) when Hadley, Jane, and Chelsea began to walk down the grand staircase. Though the music continued, everyone took a break from their dancing and stared at the three new girls coming towards them. Jane, Hadley, and Chelsea just tried to act as normal as possible and ignore the gaping crowd.

Once the girls reached the main floor, they were accosted by a large group of men bothering them to dance. Hadley, noticing that Jane and Chelsea were becoming at bit flabbergasted (and herself getting a bit annoyed with the attention), decided to calm the crowd.

"HEY!" she shouted over the voices of the people. They immediately fell silent.

"Calm down! If you want to dance with us, we're going to have to be orderly about this. If you want to dance with Jane, stand in a line over there. If you want to dance with Chelsea, stand over there. If you want to dance with me, FUCK OFF!"

The men did as they were told, and the girls spent the next several hours dividing their time between dancing and resting from all the dancing. Even Hadley did quite a lot, thus proving that no one had any idea what on Earth "fuck off" meant.

Pretty soon, Chelsea looked around and noticed what time it was. She excused herself from the guy she was currently dancing with to find Hadley and Jane.

"I think we should skedaddle," she said to Hadley. "Check out what time it is."

Hadley looked at her surroundings and figured out what part of the story they were currently about to take part in.

"Good idea," she said. "Where's Jane?"

The girl in question was currently being hounded by more men who wanted her to dance with them.

"Look, I'd be more than happy to dance with you," she was saying, "but first I want to get something to drink."

"Let me get it for you!" one man said.

"No, _I'll_ get it!" another interrupted.

"Thank you," Jane tried to say, "but that's really not-"

"I'll get it!"

"No, I will!"

"No, me!"

"I WILL GET MY OWN DAMN DRINK!" Jane finally shouted in exasperation. The men immediately stopped fighting and let her go.

As Jane walked towards the drink table, Hadley and Chelsea hurried up to her.

"Jane, we have to go," Chelsea said.

"How come?"

"Remember that 'conveniently disappearing' part of the plan?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, we should probably execute it _now_."

"Well, what if I don't want to?"

"What?!"

"I'm kind of having fun," Jane admitted.

"Dearie," Hadley said, "you just had to scream in the faces of a group of testosterone-driven males bugging you to dance just so you could get something to drink and to catch your breath."

"Who says I'm not enjoying that?"

"Oh dear God," Chelsea muttered to herself.

"This is some type of secret revenge against Erik, isn't it?" Hadley accused.

"What revenge?" Jane asked, trying to sound innocent. "I'm not trying to get revenge on Erik for choosing Christine over me because she's prettier and can sing and-"

"Jane, using men who are currently functioning on their sex drive to get revenge on the guy you like is _not_ a smart thing to do!"

"But they're so needy, it's hilarious!"

"Jane!"

"Fine, fine…just one more dance!"

Hadley and Chelsea glanced at each other and sighed.

"Fine," Chelsea said. "One more dance."

Jane walked to an area where most of the men were mulling about.

"Oh, I only have time for one more dance!" she said in a loud and melodramatic voice. Chelsea and Hadley rolled their eyes. "Whoever shall I dance with?"

The men proceeded to crowd around Jane as though they were starving puppies attacking a T-bone steak. Jane simply batted her eyes and flirted with every man in a twenty foot radius.

"She's still on a revenge kick, isn't she?" Chelsea asked.

"I'm afraid so."

Jane finally chose a somewhat attractive man to dance with. They headed to the exact center of the dance floor and started in on a waltz.

About a minute into the dance, the lights in the ballroom went dim. The whole crowd turned to stare at the top of the stairs, where Erik had suddenly appeared in his Red Death suit.

"No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!" Hadley muttered to Chelsea. The girls snickered behind their hands while trying to look horrified and frightened like everyone else. Jane pretended to be scared and clung to her current dance partner, who was trying to act brave while also trying not to wet his pants.

Erik scanned the crowd with his darkest glare. His eyes alighted on Jane for the briefest moment, just long enough to notice that she was hanging onto the man next to her as if her life depended on it. Once she noticed him watching her, however, the fear left her face and she sent him the most evil smirk she could muster. This irritated Erik, of course, but he decided there were more productive ways he could take out his anger.

Erik then proceeded to talk about Don Juan in all its mightiness while throwing occasional glares at Jane. Eventually he made his way to stand in front of her and her dance partner. Jane was perfectly okay, though extremely pissed off, while the man next to her was in danger of passing out.

Eventually Erik walked towards Christine, but not before throwing Jane one last evil death glare. There was now space enough for Hadley and Chelsea to hurry to their friend.

"We need to get out of here now!" Chelsea whispered frantically.

"Why?"

"Did you not see the look in his eyes?" Hadley asked. "If we stick around much longer, he's going to be inclined to murder us!"

"Don't be ridiculous," Jane said. "He's not going to commit any crimes in a room full of witnesses!"

"Are you absolutely sure about that?" Chelsea asked. The girls were getting progressively louder, and people's heads were beginning to turn.

"Of course I'm sure," Jane insisted. "But then again, he would be inclined to do something that stupid."

"Excuse me!" Erik shouted from across the room. The girls jumped and turned to face him.

"I'm a little busy right now and you're sort of distracting me!"

"A.D.D. much?" Jane muttered.

"If you have something to say to me, say it to my face!" Erik snapped. The invitation was too much for Jane to resist.

"Alright then, I will!" she shouted. Now the crowd was getting freaked out. They looked on in shock as a teenage girl proceeded to stalk across the ballroom and flip out in the face of one of the most feared men in Paris.

"You," Jane yelled at Erik, "are the most selfish, arrogant, image-obsessed _moron_ I have ever had to deal with in my whole entire life! You make drunken monkeys look like Greek gods! The dumbest wenches look like scholars compared to you!"

"You know what?" Erik yelled back. "At least I'm not some crazy homicidal bitch!"

The crowd gasped. Jane's eyes bugged out in shock and anger.

"Did you just call me a bitch?" she snapped.

"Yes I did!" Erik yelled. "And I enjoyed every moment of it!"

A meaty smack was heard across the ballroom. There was now a large hand-shaped red mark on the side of Erik's face. He rubbed it with his hand and glared at Jane, who stood before him with the most triumphant expression.

"Don't get so cocky."

Erik, however, was not inclined to take such abuse lightly. Snapping back quickly from his brief stupor of pain, he raised one arm and backhanded Jane across the face. The crowd gasped again as Jane recoiled.

"You bastard!" she shouted. "You would hit a girl?!"

"Damn straight I would!" he screamed. "Besides, you're no girl; you're a monster!"

The two then proceeded to duke it out hard-core, causing much damage and mental scarring to the crowd. In the end, they were both reduced to nothing, and everyone else went out to ice cream.

THE END!

JUST KIDDING!!

Actually, Hadley and Chelsea managed to intervene before it got too out of hand. They practically had to drag Jane across the ballroom and out the door. The three made it to the street before the girls dropped their friend onto the pavement

"What in the nine levels of Hell was that?!" Chelsea screamed.

"What?" Jane said. "It's not my fault that he's a stinking-"

"I couldn't care less if he was a dancing gorilla with a funny pink hat!" Hadley yelled. "You've taken it too far this time, Jane! What on Earth were you thinking?! This could totally jeopardize our chances of being able to stay in the lair! What then? Do you want to sleep in the streets? Because we sure as Hell don't!"

Jane sighed and looked down ashamedly.

"I'm sorry" she muttered. "I just got a little crazy when I saw him obsessing over _her_ again."

The other girls didn't need any clarification to know who _she_ was. They looked at each other, then back to their friend. They sighed.

"You have to apologize," Chelsea said. "That's the only way I can think of to make up for this."

"What if he doesn't accept?" Jane asked.

"Then at least you tried," Hadley said. "Which means everything from there on out is his fault."

Jane nodded, and the girls hurried around to the side of the building. They snuck back in through the secret side door and waited in the lair for Erik to get back.

A few minutes later he returned, looking extremely pissed off at something, or someone. The girls all sat at the table quietly, not daring to turn and look at him.

He threw his cloak down on the table and glared at Jane, who didn't meet his gaze.

"_What…the…HELL_," he roared, "_were you thinking?_ Did you honestly think you could stall me? Did you think you could _kill_ me? _WELL?_"

Jane didn't speak for a while. Finally, she squeaked, "I'm sorry."

"Well too damn bad!" Erik screeched. "You have messed up my plans for the very last time! As of this moment, you can consider yourself officially _kicked out_!"

"You can't kick us out!" Hadley protested.

"Not you two," Erik said. "Just this demon-child!"

"If Jane leaves, then so do we!" Chelsea declared.

Jane stood up from her seat.

"No, guys, stay here," she said sadly. "I deserve this."

"What?" Hadley and Chelsea exclaimed.

"What?" Erik asked in shock.

"You guys still have a chance to go home if you stay here," she said. "I deserve to be kicked out. I've cause too much damage."

Erik looked slightly confused, but happy that Jane was finally getting the message. She turned to face the exit to the lair, not even thinking to change her dress. She was about to leave when suddenly Hadley spoke.

"Damn you Erik!" she screamed. "What the Hell is the matter with you? Are you really so blind that you can't see what she's feeling right now?"

Everyone stared at Hadley in shock.

"She's frickin' obsessed with you, you idiot!" Chelsea joined in. Erik looked mystified.

"She…you…really?" he asked quietly.

"Of course!" Hadley bellowed. "She's fucking in love with you, dammit!"

Jane gawked at her friend before quickly turning on her heels and running out the door.

"Now look what you've done!" Chelsea yelled at Hadley.

"Me?!" Hadley said. "You joined in!"

Hadley and Chelsea bickered amongst themselves while Erik stood by, paralyzed by astonishment. Someone loved him. And not just anyone; a woman! A woman who was smart, funny, creative, tough, and caring. It was a little too strange, but he did know one thing; he couldn't let her get away.

Leaving Hadley and Chelsea to their fighting he ran after Jane, who had sprinted into the street.

Jane stumbled her way through the dark Paris streets, trying to get as far away from the Opera House as she could. Despite her feelings, she just didn't think she could face Erik after what she had done to him. Not only that, but she couldn't bear to have her worst fear realized: rejection.

Pausing for a moment, she leaned against the side of a building and slid to the ground. There was snow falling everywhere, and she was exhausted from her escapades at the masquerade ball and her flight. Just as the vague outline of a person appeared in the falling snow, she slipped into unconsciousness.

Erik ran through the Paris streets, keeping to the shadows and trying to find Jane. It was around two thirty in the morning, and the snow that was falling all around provided not only a good cover for him, but also a marker for footprints. He soon found the path leading away from the back of the Opera House and zigzagging through the quiet city. He followed it to the base of a building, where he found the sleeping Jane huddled against the cold.

He knelt beside her and gently shook her shoulder.

"Jane?" he said. "Jane, are you okay?"

Her response was an incoherent grunt.

Erik gently lifted her from the ground and turned back in the direction of his home. As he walked, she curled herself against his chest for warmth, and was sleeping soundly when they returned to the lair.


	7. AAAAWWWW!

Jane allowed herself to awake slowly before opening her eyes

Jane allowed herself to awake slowly before opening her eyes. She could vaguely hear the sound of voices coming from outside the room she was in, and for a brief moment she wondered if she was back at home in the US and the whole ordeal with Erik had been one long bad dream. But once she heard his voice outside the door, she knew differently.

"I'll go check on her," Erik was saying. "She's been asleep for quite some time."

Jane opened her eyes and looked up to see Erik gazing down at her.

"Good morning," he said in a slightly concerned voice. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," she said. "Tired, but fine."

There was a brief and slightly awkward silence.

"Where are Chelsea and Hadley?"

"Outside," he told her. "Do you want me to fetch them?"

"In a moment," she said. "First, I want to talk to you."

Erik hesitated for a moment, and then sat down on a chair next to the bed. Neither of them said anything for a while, but finally Jane broke the silence.

"I truly am sorry," she said softly. "I didn't mean to mess everything up for you. You were right to kick me out."

"No I wasn't," he said. "You were sorry last night, but I was too angry and brash to see it. _I'm_ the one who should be sorry, not you."

There was another moment of quiet.

"Is it true?" Erik asked quietly. Jane looked up.

"Is what true?"

"What Hadley said. Do you…I mean, do you actually…"

She nodded.

"More than you know," she told him with quiet honesty. Another silence fell over them and neither knew what to do. Erik looked away for a moment. His heart was pounding against his ribs uncontrollably and he face felt hot. He honestly thought he was sick until a giggle emerged from Jane.

"Oh my, do my eyes deceive me or do I see a blush running across your cheeks?"

Erik turned away to hide his face, which had gone from rosy pink to beet red at Jane's comment. She sat up and scooted closer to him, making sure he was looking her in the face before continuing.

"Please don't be mad at yourself," she pleaded softly. "I guarantee you I do that enough for the both of us."

He looked up at her as a small smile crossed his face.

"What an odd pair we make," he said. "Both of us trying to cover what we feel; neither of us able to do so."

The silence that followed seemed to last an eternity. Jane didn't dare take her eyes off of Erik, who stared straight at her without budging.

"Erik," Jane started as a blush slowly creep onto her cheeks. "Would you do something for me?"

Erik leaned in slightly and listened intently.

"What is it?"

Jane smiled and leaned in so that their foreheads were touching.

"Could you, if you don't mind, say that…well that you…ya know…" Jane blushed cherry red and Erik smiled.

"Now look who's blushing" Erik pulled back a little bit so that he could hug her close. Erik moved so he could whisper in her ear. "Jane, I lo-"

A loud, thudding crash came from the direction of the doorway, abruptly cutting him off mid-sentence. The pair looked over to see Chelsea and Hadley sprawled across the ground as if they had fallen into the swan bedroom. They stood up quickly and tried to look dignified.

"We weren't listening!" Hadley shouted.

"We swear!" Chelsea added. "We didn't hear anything about hating yourself or – OUCH!"

Hadley slammed her heel down on Chelsea's foot and gave the girl one of her famous death glares of doom.

"Well," she smiled awkwardly, "we'll…be…over…here!"

The two girls scampered from the swan bedroom as fast as their legs could take them. Erik and Jane looked at each other and sighed.

"That's my friends for you," she smiled. "Hadley and Chelsea: Moment-Killers Extraordinaire."

Erik simply laughed. Jane moved away and began to get out of the bed.

"I'd better get changed; I've been wearing this dress since last night!"

Erik stood up from his spot and began to leave the room.

"I'll have Hadley and Chelsea bring you some clean clothes and help you get dressed."

About fifteen minutes later Jane sat at the table in the main grotto with Hadley and Chelsea, eating breakfast and discussing what to do now.

"What happened while I was asleep?" Jane asked.

"The graveyard scene," Chelsea told her. "Christine still doesn't know what's going on between you two."

"So when is Don Juan?"

"In about a month," Hadley told her. "They still have some preparations and rehearsals to do, and then it's opening night."

Jane shook her head and chuckled.

"I can't believe she's that oblivious." Jane then turned her head and looked around. "So where did Erik sneak off too?"

"He went off somewhere; he said he had to go get something…"

--

Erik wandered the system of tunnels around his lair searching for a certain storage room. He skillfully maneuvered through the maze of hallways and to an old wooden door. Erik pulled an old golden key from his pocket and unlocked the door carefully. He then walked down some stairs and into a lavish room. The floor was stone but most of it covered in an old Italian rug. The furniture was made of oak and covered in forest green cloth. Over in a corner sat a large desk made of red maple. Erik walked over to it, opened the middle drawer, and pulled out a box covered in blue velvet. He sat down on the desk chair and opened the box. Inside sat a gold locket with a ruby red ribbon. He watched the locket hang in the air as his mind wandered off to the time he had lived with these strange yet entertaining girls. From the first moment he meet them and was tackled to the ground by Jane, to when she brought Chelsea here. In fact, a lot of Erik's troubles happened because of Jane, but strangely enough he didn't really seem to mind as much as he had at first. Jane might have been crazy, confusing, and slightly annoying at times, but he found himself thinking that there was no one else that he'd rather be driven insane, confused, or annoyed by. She had a temper, but then again so did he. Perhaps they would balance each other out. She was his other half.

Erik rose from his seat as he put the locket back in the box and made his was back up to the main labyrinth. He walked into the grotto to find Jane tinkering around with the piano. Hadley and Chelsea were nowhere to be seen. Erik snuck up behind Jane and hugged her, resting his chin on her head.

"Where did you run off to?" she asked, not even looking up from what she was doing.

"I was getting something. Where did the disastrous duo go?" Erik sat down on the bench next to Jane and watched her press the keys randomly.

"They went off to go help get the set ready for the dress rehearsals. I'll be heading up soon; I just didn't feeling like leaving yet."

Erik nodded his head in understanding. He placed a hand on top of Jane's and played a soft chorded.

"Do you play, my dear?"

"I used to, but not anymore. I dropped it after my teacher moved."

"Why did you do that?"

"I never enjoyed it. I never really liked my teacher…just a bad experience I guess."

"Would you like to hear a tune I wrote?" Erik offered. Jane nodded her head and moved over to give him room.

Erik played a light and soft tune. It was smooth and melodic and didn't last too long. When he finished Jane clapped and smiled.

"That's very pretty. I can put words to it if you'd like."

"That would be wonderful." Erik smiled and started to play the tune again. Jane then started to sing the words.

Oh heaven help me I've fallen so far

_No one can see me_

_I've fallen in tar_

_Gods laughing at me_

_But I'm not affected_

_No one is listening_

_I feel so rejected_

_But I've got someone special_

_He loves me truly_

_He'll come when I call_

_Just wait and see _

'_Cause he can't live without me_

_Oh god how I've fallen…_

_Fallen in love._

Erik stopped playing and looked at Jane.

"You have a lovely voice."

"Thanks, I'm not _that_ good…" Jane said blushing.

There was a sudden thud and some yelps of pain before Chelsea and Hadley came bursting in.

"Oh my god, you won't believe what happened to Christine…we interrupted something again didn't we?" Hadley said as she stared at the love-gushed pair.

"Just go on," Erik sighed.

"Well, we were upstairs helping to get ready for the dress rehearsal, when all of a sudden there was this really loud crashing sound from the stage. We looked over and saw that the set had collapsed with Christine on it!"

"Is she dead?" Jane asked worriedly.

"No, but she broke her leg and they can't find a replacement!" Chelsea said. "Opening night is in one month, and they just lost their leading lady!"

"I guess they'll just have to go with Carlotta again," Jane sighed.

"_Over my dead ass!_" Erik shouted. "This opera is my life's work, and I'll be _damned_ if the Toad is going to ruin it!"

"Then who's going to sing it?"

There was a moment of silence. Hadley and Chelsea looked at each other, at Jane, back at each other, and at Jane one more time.

"Oh, no," Jane said. "No, no, no, no, no!"

"Why not?" Chelsea asked.

"B-because…I-I just…I…uh…"

"Yes, why not?" Erik asked. "Please, it's you or the Toad Woman."

"No!" Jane yelled. "There are plenty of replacements! I won't! There is no way in the nine levels of Hell that you will talk me into doing this!"

Five minutes later…

"I can't _believe_ you talked me into doing this."

"Believe it, dearie," Chelsea smiled.

"If we ever get out of this alive, you're both dead," Jane snapped.

"We love you too," Hadley said. "Now get out there and break a leg!"

Hadley, Chelsea, and Erik had managed to convince Jane to sing the lead part for the opera, and she was now going out for the first day of practice. The managers weren't sure at first if they wanted a completely unknown person to have the leading role for the Phantom's opera, but after a few well-placed notes from Erik on Jane's behalf they gave in.

"Alright Miss Jane," Firmin said. "If you're ready, we'll begin."

Jane muttered a few colorful words as she made her way onto the stage. The practice, all in all, went good, though Chelsea and Hadley had to keep a close eye on Jane to make sure she didn't escape. By the time the practice was over it was very late at night. Jane had to be dragged back to the labyrinth because she was so tired.

"Guys…guys I can't feel my legs!" Jane groaned as she stumbled around, trying not to fall over.

"Oh stop complaining. You still have a long way to go," Erik said as he grabbed Jane around the waist to stop her from falling. "What did they have you do up there?"

"They made her warm-up her voice, try on the costume, go over her standing and singing places, put on makeup to see how it would look, actually sing her songs, and stand near and be held by Piangi," Hadley said as she took Jane from Erik and put her to bed.

"She's singing with Piangi?" Erik asked, a sting of jealousy going up his spine.

"Yep, and he's enjoying it way too much." Chelsea grumbled as she took a seat at the organ. "If you ask me I think Piangi's going to leave Carlotta and make a move on Jane."

Erik got up and started to pace around the room.

"That is not good, not good at all," he mumbled to himself.

"Well you could kill him if you want," Hadley said. "Not that I'm recommending that course of action, but it's always an ace in the hole."

"No, we'll save that for later," Erik said. "If only there was a way to prevent him from getting close to her."

"That would be kind of hard unless you find a way to take his spot," Chelsea pointed out.

Erik paused and pointed at her.

"Say that again," he commanded. Chelsea repeated herself.

Erik smiled.

"Problem solved," he said mischievously. "Good night ladies."

Hadley looked at Chelsea once Erik was gone.

"You don't think he's going to do anything dangerous, do you?" she asked with a bit of worry tainting her voice.

"Maybe," Chelsea admitted. "You never can tell with him."


	8. It's Show Time

One month later, opening night had arrived. The whole day had been spent in hurried and tense preparation for the big event. Jane had become a nervous wreck, pacing back and forth wondering if she would be able to pull it off.

Chelsea and Hadley were cleaning the lobby while listening to Raoul speaking to the managers about the whole Christine-breaking-her-leg thing.

"Well this certainly puts a wrinkle in our plans," Andre was saying. "He's either not going to show up or he'll find out Christine isn't performing, get angry, and wreak havoc. Jane doesn't know about the plan, so we can't use her."

There was a moment of silence.

"Why not?" Raoul asked.

"Why not what?"

"Why can't we use Jane?" The managers looked at each other.

"Go on."

"Well, if the Phantom doesn't know that Christine isn't the one on stage, all we would have to do is make Jane look like Christine and carry out the plans using her."

"But what if he finds out that it's not Christine?" Firmin asked. "It's entirely likely that he'll get violent and bring some harm upon Jane."

"By then, it'll be too late for him."

Hadley and Chelsea glanced at each other and slipped away from the men, hurrying towards the prima donna dressing room where Jane was getting ready for the show.

"Jane, open up!" Chelsea shouted as she pounded on the door. "We need to talk to you!"

The door opened and the two girls shoved Jane inside the dressing room.

"What's the matter?" Jane wondered. As best they could, Hadley and Chelsea explained the conversation that they had just overheard. Jane looked concerned.

"So they're going to try to use _me_ as the bait now?"

"That seems to be the master plan," Hadley said. "Where's Erik? He should probably know about this too."

"He's down in the lair, getting ready for tonight," Jane informed them. "He said he had a surprise for the show. I just hope it isn't anything dangerous."

"You're not the only one," Chelsea muttered.

There was a knock at the door.

"Miss Jane?" said Firmin's voice from the hallway. "May we see you for a moment in our office?"

"I'd better go," Jane muttered to her friends. "Go down to the lair and tell Erik what's going on. Coming!"

Jane walked with Firmin to the office where he, along with Andre and Raoul, told her of the plan and got her into a brown curly wig. Meanwhile in the lair Erik had finished getting dressed and put the blue velvet box, from earlier, in his pocket. Quickly putting on a black mask and grabbing his trusty cloak, he headed upstairs, completely missing Hadley and Chelsea running in to find him.

"Shit, we missed him!" Hadley snapped as she stumbled into the room.

"What are we going to do!?" Chelsea asked.

"All we can do is hope for the best and hope to God Erik isn't too stupid."

There was a moment of silence.

"So we're screwed?"

"Pretty much,"

Back up stairs the show had just started and Piangi had stopped Jane before she could go on.

"Good luck my dear, and if I may I'd love to speak with you later."

"Sure…I guess." Jane said nervously

Jane entered on the stage and began to sing.

" _No thoughts within her head, but thoughts of joy!_

_No dreams with in her heart, but dreams of love!..."_

Erik soon appeared on stage, having taken care of Piangi. He softly sung his line to the actor playing Passarino and made his way over to Jane expecting to see blond hair only to find brown. Not wanting to seem a fool, he started to sing his part.

"_You have come here in pursuit of your deepest urge,_

_In pursuit of that wish, which till now has been silent. silent…_

_I have brought you, that our passions may fuse and merge-_

_In your mind you've already succumbed to me,_

_Dropped all defenses, completely succumbed to me-_

_Now you are here with me: no second thoughts,_

_You've decided, decided…_

Jane turned to Erik and gave him a look of question; he returned it with one of his own. The song continued on as it had been practiced, no one missing a step. The two had finally gotten to the top of the bridge and were holding each other. Erik stared at Jane and began to sing.

"_Say you'll share with me one love, one life time…_

_Lead me, save me from my solitude…_

_Say you want me with you here beside you…_

_Anywhere you go, let me go too-"_

Erik removed Jane's wig and the audience gasped, Raoul cursed, Firmin and Andre grew pale, and Christine, who was watching from backstage in a wheelchair, became scared and confused. Hadley and Chelsea slapped their foreheads.

"_Jane that's all I ask of…"_

Erik was cut off by a scream and Carlotta ran on stage with tears on her face.

"Piangi, Piangi is dead!!"

The audience started to scream and stare at Erik.

"Oh, so you all assume it's me?!" he shouted.

"It was you, wasn't it?" Jane asked.

"…Yes."

"You know, for someone who hates how everyone jumps to conclusions about him," she pointed out, "you're certainly very good at giving us excuses to do so."

"…Shut up," Erik said as he pouted.

Jane looked around before pulling out a knife from her dress and pointing the handle at Erik.

"Care to do the honors?"

"Absolutely, my dear." Erik took the knife and chucked it at the chandelier, cutting the rope holding it up with ease. The chandelier started to fall and all Hell broke loose. Chelsea and Hadley happily giggled in the background.

Everyone tried to move out of the way of the careening light fixture in one giant rush. The theater had been reduced to mass pandemonium as the curtains caught on fire. Backstage, Chelsea and Hadley had finished their laughing spree and were now starting to get a little worried.

"Do you suppose we should follow them?" Chelsea asked.

"Probably," Hadley agreed, "but we'd better be discreet about it. God knows what they're going to do if they find out we were in on this the whole time."

As inconspicuously as they could, the girls slipped away from the panic – and the inferno – that were quickly engulfing the stage and slipped through the mirror in the prima donna dressing room. Back in the lair they discovered Jane and Erik, who had arrived only moments before them.

"What the hell are we going to do now?" Jane asked worriedly. "We can't go up because of the fire and all the people, we can't stay here because pretty soon that fire's going to turn the basement into a huge underground furnace, and we can't spend all this time thinking about it because there's an angry mob descending the stairs who's looking to disembowel us!"

"They won't get you," Erik said as he tried to comfort a nearly-spastic Jane. "I promise, I won't let them hurt you."

She looked into his face with wide eyes.

"Really?" she asked.

"Really."

"Oh Erik!"

"Oh Jane!"

"OH NO YOU DON'T!"

Chelsea and Hadley managed to pry the gushing pair apart long enough for Chelsea to get an idea.

"Jane," she said, "you said you got us all here by just saying that you wished it would happen, right?"

"That's basically the gist of it," Jane replied.

"Well then why don't we just wish ourselves _back_?" Chelsea pointed out. "After all, it's the best option we've got."

…

"Why didn't we think of that before?!" Jane yelled.

"You mean you could have left at any time?" Erik said in his you're-seriously-confusing-me-again voice.

"I suppose."

"But how on earth is that poss-"

"How about we save the space-time-continuum discussions for a time when our lives are _not_ in imminent danger?" Hadley suggested, cutting him off.

"Oh, right," Jane remembered. "The mob."

The girls all assembled themselves around each other.

"Well, here goes," Chelsea said. "I wish that-"

"Wait!" Jane cut in. "What about Erik?"

"What about Erik?" Hadley asked.

"Well we can't just leave him here for the mob to be disambiguated-"

"Disemboweled."

"Yeah, that."

"Just go!" Erik said hurriedly, looking in the direction of the lake where the voices of the encroaching mob were barely audible. "I'll be fine; I've escaped from these people before."

"You heard the man," Chelsea said with a shrug.

Jane planted her feet solidly on the ground and folded her arms.

"I'm not going without him," she insisted stubbornly.

Hadley and Chelsea looked at each other with exasperation. Their time was running short, and they couldn't really afford to waste it on arguing. So, they did the only thing they could think of.

"Fine," Hadley said tiredly. "He can come, but we'd better leave fast."

"One second." Jane turned to Erik. "Do you have any money saved up?"

"Yes," he said. "In a trunk in my bedroom."

"Go get it, quickly," Jane told him.

Erik disappeared into the swan bedroom for a few moments and returned toting a wooden chest about the size of a toaster oven.

"Now we're ready to go," Jane said resolutely.

The group huddled together to ensure that they would all be carried safely away. They looked at Jane, who wrapped an arm around Erik before making the wish.

"I wish we could go home," she said. Looking directly at Erik she added, "_All of us_."

The wind began to blow wildly again, just as it had when the girls had first been dumped into nineteenth-century Paris. Just after the wind had stopped, Erik looked around to see his new world and life.

"There's a lot that I will need to know." Erik said looking amazed.

"I know, but we need to find a place for you." Hadley said.

"I know!" exclaimed Chelsea. "Since my parents aren't home a lot, he can stay in my basement until we find him an apartment!"

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Well that isn't a bad idea." Jane said. Erik looked at Jane for a moment then said, "But I want to stay with you, forever."

"I know, but it might be the best. My parents would not understand why a 25 year-old man is in the basement."

Suddenly, Erik, out of total randomness kissed Jane for a brief moment and then told Chelsea, "I guess that is the best idea."

"Okay, so it's settled. Erik goes home with Chelsea and Jane can see him whenever she wants." Hadley said matter-of - factly.

"Alrighty then, let head back to the hotel." Then Jane grabbed Erik's hand a pulled him with his trunk of money in her other arm. Hadley and Chelsea soon followed. Hadley then stopped and turned to Chelsea.

"Wait, Chelsea, why are you here in Paris!?" There was a moment of silence between the two before Chelsea just shrugged. Hadley's shoulders then slumped and her face became pale.

"Well, fuc-"

The END!!

This time we mean it.

Authors' Note

We the writers of this story are ever grateful to the loyal reads that actually finished this story and gave reviews and such, your support really made it worth while for our little team and we all give our thanks. Special thanks to our parents for enduring our loud annoying giggles at 4 in the morning. Tee Hee! We plan on making a sequel to this story so please keep an eye out for it! It'll be in the Twilight section but it'll also be posted on my account so don't freak out. We hope some of you come read the next and review on it like this one.

Love, Hadley, Jane, and Chelsea; the infamous Trio.


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